Catching Up

I am so behind on blogging.  I will try to catch you up on all the interesting stuff we've been doing, and I'll try to keep it in chronological order.  Which means the newest on top.
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On our way home from Sevierville, TN, we headed out through the Smokies.  We drove through Cades Cove, and here are some of the sights. 

You couldn't even tell this staircase was there until the camera flash lit the place up.  And this was a bright, sunny day!  Can't imagine life without electricity now.



This was right before she told us she had to "go potty."  And there's nothing even close!  Good thing I had her little porta-potty in the car with us.  (That porta-potty is worth it's weight in gold!)










We saw EIGHT bears!  The largest group was a group of three. 

Luci-isms

Print-zel  pretzel
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Lunch Box  To-Go Box.  As in, "I need a lunch box so I can take this home."
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Pun  one's rear-end; posterior.  As in:

JT, I am going to pinch your butt.

Luci, we don't say 'butt.'

Umm...I said, "but I don't want that!"

Luci, that's a pun.  A play on words.

Okay, Mama.  I am patting you on the  pun!

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Kindergarten!

Today we began Luci's school journey.  I was going to say "educational journey," but she's been learning all sorts of good things all along.  Today Kindergarten officially began.

Here's a shot of her in P.E.  I love that playing outdoors is P.E.  JT's a good teacher.  He is our outdoorsman.

And here is the happy face of a girl who has successfully completed the Monkey Bars for the first time!

What do you do to honor your child's first mother?

I've been thinking of this for some time, as prodded by people like Tonggu Momma and those she links on her Sunday Links posts.  Luci brings up her "China Momma" about once a week.  I bring her up, too, along with other aspects of Luci's past so she will know that it is not taboo in our household to talk about what she's had to give up.  To keep any secrets from starting.  To help her heal.

While at Walmart this week, I told Luci that I would like us to honor her China Momma Saturday, to pray for her (and her China Daddy--we have not gotten into the fact that there might be a sibling or two out there.  I'm sure as she grows up that might come to her mind.)  and to remember the mother who is missing from our household.

Luci was quite happy with it, and picked out these "candles" and the holders.  (We don't do scents in our house, and having something that can't catch anything else on fire appeals to me, "Safety Susie.")

The hearts stand for Luci and China Momma, and the red dish stands for China, or the USA, whichever Luci is thinking about at the time.

Last night Luci was really being a toot.  So were the boys, by the way.  So everyone got "a talking to," which means I sorta yelled.  Real good, to do that before the Mother's Day cards are signed, huh?  I have lousy timing. 

Luci hopped up in my lap, or rather, I gathered her up and cuddled her as she calmed down.  I told her I was sorry I yelled.  She was sniffling, and said, "I wish I was with...(pause)...Pal."  (Pal is our sweet yellow Labrador retriever, killed three years ago.) 
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I hugged Luci, and looked at her straight in the eye and said, "You meant to say, you wish you were with your China Momma, didn't you?"
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Nodding yes.
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I know you miss her.  I wish you could see her, too.  Did you know that if you were with your China Momma she would have times when she is cranky, too?

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No.

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Did you know that you can wish that and say that and it will not make me mad?  I will still love you and will never walk away from you.  NEVER.  You could do whatever you want to make me mad, and I WILL STILL LOVE YOU FOREVER.

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This morning as I was opening my gift from Luci (a pink pig piggy bank! the perfect Mother's Day gift!), she said "I wish my China Momma could come live here."  
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Me too, I said.  I'd have to learn to cook more Chinese food.
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She could teach you!

Where's JT?

Oh Yeah--He's on the Flow Rider!
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This is the most fun thing, according to JT.  He spent almost all of his time in the waterpark this week doing this:

and this:

and this.  Watch out, folks in the viewing area! JT also learned to do barrel rolls with this board, and a couple of other things that I am just not that fast to catch with my camera.

And this makes him a real Hot Dog at the park:

JT, I am so proud of you!  This talent did not come from your Dad or me.  :)

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And now, a video of JT being Cool.

Yes, Brave Luci!

Brave Luci ? ? ?

We've tried and tried to get Luci to play somewhere in this big waterpark besides the baby pool. This is as brave as she got for several days.

This area is so neat! But she does not like it.


Mostly because that big bucket above does this:

Finally we got her to go down the slide in the area above (with great fear every time the bell ding-ding-dings and the bucket tips over). And today--I got her to go in the wave pool, and wow! She likes it. We stay in the 6 inch deep area, which is fine with me. At least Luci is trusting Mom, trying new things, and enjoying it.

Playin' Cowboy

Today's excitement was Luci's speed.  We went to the Smoky Mountain Deer Farm.  What made this a worthwhile trip was that both kids got to ride horses.  JT took a 45 minute ride on Beau, and loved it.

Luci started out by shopping.  "Does this make me look like Jesse, Mama?  Except I don't have red-yarn hair."  Of course you look just like Jesse (from Toy Story 2).



Feeding the goats and liking it!

The Fallow Deer were fun to feed, too.


Yee-Haw!  Luci riding Lil Joe.  "I wanted a girl horse.  Joe is a boy name.  But that's okay, 'cause Lil Joe is the prettiest one."


JT loved that this rooster let him get up close and snap this pic.

Monday's Pottery Visit

We visited Polka Dot Pots on Monday.  Here are the stages of our pottery:
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Before:

During:








After firing:



Thrifty me, I had a coupon.  If you spend a certain amount, you get a free tile.  So there's my tile with Luci's mermaid and JT's alien skateboarder.  The cost of each piece includes painting and firing.

Videos from Wonder Works

JT on the XTREME 360--JT is on the front of the closest car (or "cycle"). Notice Luci's reaction to the goings-on around her


JT and Luci with the Magic Fingerpainting wall. This was in a less-frenetic part of the museum.


And the harp without strings...

Wonder Works

We went to Wonder Works today.  It's a lot of fun, unless...

you are sensitive to noise, light and crowds.  Luci spent most of the time like this:


JT on the Hurricane simulator
(he is hamming it up here)




and on the Extreme 360 (trying to get the video to work. I'll post it later if I can get it to work.)




Luci watching JT on the Extreme 360



JT rock climbing


and Luci watching JT rock climbing




JT pitching



and Luci watching JT pitch.



Even "going through the portal" and seeing your image in the mist in front of you was not enough to get Luci to take down her hands. 


JT in a moonsuit.






Finally!  Something that Luci wanted to do.  No hands over ears!



Oops.  Spoke too soon.

Here in the young children's section, there were several games Luci could do.  But even these were too loud for her.  That little triangular piece under the screen there is the speaker.  I covered it with my purse and we could still hear the machine's instructions.  I wish they included more things earlier in the "museum" for younger children to do.  Luci spent more than half her time here in tears, because it was so loud, and most of it was for ages 8 and up.  Not really geared for the whole family.  At least we got a military discount. 

JT wants to go do another activity tomorrow that is also totally noisy.  I told him he had to let Luci choose something more "bland" so she could have a good time, too.  So tomorrow we are going to a petting zoo.

It's that time of year again...

Tornado weather.  The storm room in the basement got a good work-out on Saturday night.  We went down twice...the second time a funnel cloud was spotted by trained weather-spotters not far from our home.  Here is what happens when we are down in the safe room:
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Dance time!  Anything to keep the scared feelings at bay.

These items make the trip:  A bag full of important papers like Luci's adoption papers, insurance stuff, and several flashlights, and there's always at least one cell phone.



The radio is important...not only for those dance moves, but also because the local stations report for us until it's all clear.

Tired from all that dancing...



and the boys played on in the "Man Cave" next door.  When the storms got closer, they got in the safe room with us.

Car Hunt

Red-Spotted Purple Butterfly?

matches most closely with #320 

in my National Audubon Society Field Guide to

North American Butterflies

This post has nothing to do with butterflies, except that I found this beauty in the vegetable garden this morning.  He (she?) sat there long enough for me to zoom in and get a picture.  Which is nicer than JT was, he kept running from me and the camera.
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Yesterday we headed to Cullman to see John's cousin Linda and her husband, who own a car salvage yard and occasionally get a car in that is running fine.  John let them know we were looking for a used car for Bryan and they had one for us to see--a nice 1994 BMW.  

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We got there and Linda shows us a car that they just brought in today--a pink Chevy.  Pink!  She is astounded at the color, but John and I just say, in unison,
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"Where's Luci?"  

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Because we knew she would love it.  And she did. She asked Linda to "save it for me for when I'm big, I want that pink car!"  Linda promised that if it were still here when Luci grows up, she can come get it.

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We trekked down there, with me all cranky and out-of-sorts.  Because Bryan would be driving the 85+ miles home in that new car, with the last 50 miles or so all by himself, because we'd be dropping John off to pick up his work vehicle (we picked him up on the way down there), making 3 cars and 3 drivers at that point.  

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Nervous mama.
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Cranky mama.

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Scared mama.
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Well...John and Bryan headed off the lot in the BMW for a test drive.  About 15 minutes later, we get this phone call..."the car stalled down here, can you come pick us up?"  So out goes the tow truck and the car plus one disappointed teen come back.  

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They are pretty sure that it's something fairly simple, such as clogged filter somewhere (what kind, I didn't catch--air? fuel? not sure).  When it was running, it sounded pretty good.  So Linda's folks are taking the car to the BMW place nearby and getting it checked out.   John and Bryan will head down there next weekend again to check it out and probably buy it. 

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Did I say, "BMW?"  Yup, a nice, 16 year-old BMW.  One that fits our budget (which means the tax return covers both the visit to Nana and Papa in June PLUS this vehicle) and looks like it used to live in a garage, even the paint still looks good. 
  And it looks safe.  So I am happy with that.  

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But I am more happy that the car is still 85 miles away from our teen.  

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I came home feeling light-hearted and happy.

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Until next weekend.